“There are 49 dogs signed up to compete in the dog show. There are 36 more small dogs than large dogs signed up to compete. How many small dogs are signed up to compete?”

Some people misread the problem, thinking it was a trick question, while others just did the math completely wrong. More than a few people tried to make it harder, wondering if we should account for not-mentioned medium sized dogs (no) and some came up with the answer of 42.5 dogs.

One of the latter camp explained her math as follows:

“49-36=13. 13/2=6.5. 36+6.5=42.5. That’s how I did it in my head. Is that the right way to do it? Lol I haven’t done math like this since I was in school!”

Many people (rightfully) took issue with the .5 portion of the answer (what is half a dog, exactly?), but Ayla’s teacher finally chimed in and confirmed that 42.5 dogs is the right answer.

Angie said that, according to Ayla’s teacher, “The district worded it wrong. The answer would be 42.5, if done at an age appropriate grade.”

That’s the thing about word problems…sometimes the words don’t quite line up with the numbers.